NATO Forces Will remain In Afghanistan For At Least A Decade After 2014

U.S. Army Spc. Terry Proud pulls security during a mission in Farah City in Afghanistan’s Farah province, May 12, 2012. Proud is assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah, whose members met with Farah City citizens to gather information and opinions about the living conditions there. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Lovelady

We aren’t leaving Afghanistan — except, of course, to the extent we are. That’s the high-wire balancing act that the top commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, had to perform in his remarks today ahead of the upcoming NATO conference in Chicago.

“We will say to the Afghan people with one voice, ‘we are not leaving,’ and we will highlight our commitment to the Afghan National Security Forces beyond 2014,” Gen. Allen promised in the name of the alliance. Just minutes later, though, he announced that a second wave of U.S. troops “will start to depart the theater shortly.” 10,000 troops have already come home, and at least some commanders had hoped to hold the line there until 2014. Instead, Allen said, “[an additional] 23,000 will leave… by the end of September of this year.”